As a big Brel fan, I saw this today and was intrigued and so bought it. It may have been the show that claims to have introduced non-French speaking audiences to his music but it is the most painfully awful thing that I have every seen and heard. It is so dated and clichéd 70's awful acting. The "performers" none of them appear to be able to sing in the slightest they just seem to screech through the awful "translations" of his songs. I cringed watching is it is just so awful. It not only is a travesty of Brel's music, it is also so badly acted and sung. The translations and "interpretations" of his songs are just so bad. Brel himself makes cameo appearances in this production but for the life of me I cannot fathom why he did and allowed them to murder his music like this. This really is the worst of American 70's theatre productions. I sincerely wish I'd saved my money and spend it on another original Brel recording or almost on anything else than this. I cannot emphasise enough to people not to waste their money on this. Even as a piece of Brel memorabilia it is the kind of thing that I'd want to hide behind some books and not own up to possessing. The original French of his songs are deeply poetic and touch the deepest of emotions all this production does is make you cringe and think "it can not possibly get any worse" and unfortunately it does go on and prove you wrong it does just get worse and worse. Save your money and stick to the original songs sung by him in French and not put yourself and Brel's music through this torture! All I can hope to recover from this is that I am able to dissuade anyone else from making the same mistake as me and buying it!!!!
